Special Operations Forces Mounted Unsuccessful Operation to Try to Save the Journalist and Others Held by Extremists

U.S. Special Operations forces mounted an unsuccessful operation inside Syria earlier this summer to try to rescue several Americans held by Islamic extremists, including the American journalist who was beheaded this week, senior Obama administration officials said.

President Barack Obama ordered the operation, the first by the U.S. inside Syrian territory since the start of the civil war, after the U.S. received intelligence that the Americans were being held by the extremist group known as Islamic State at a specific...